Dallas County EMA Director Brett Howard is happy about one thing: He won’t have to deal with flooding in the county anytime soon.

“I was fixing to start dealing with flood evacuations,” Howard said.

The Cahaba River crested two feet above flood stage Saturday and immediately started receding. The Alabama River, Howard said, wasn’t in danger of flooding.

While the Cahaba River’s level might be a problem for some riverside residents, it means that the danger point has passed for large scale flooding in Dallas County.

And that’s one less thing Howard has to worry about.

“With a hurricane like (Ivan) you’re dealing with wind, tornado damage, no food, water, no ice and then you got flooding after that,” he said. “But we didn’t get any flooding, which is great. Now we can just concentrate on recovery.”

Howard said the county was spared the massive rainfall which was predicted before Ivan hit.

While the area received 6-8 inches of rain, depending on the estimates, original predictions called for up to 15 inches of rain.

The weather also put debris all over the county, which is something else Howard will be dealing with in the coming weeks.

In the next few days, contractors will be on hand at the EMA office to help deal with downed trees in the area. Most of the cost to residents will be reimbursed by FEMA, Howard said.

For more information, call the Dallas County EMA at 874-2515.